


Coming Home

by caradoxing (saunteredvaguelydownward)



Series: Niah Surana [1]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-31
Updated: 2016-08-31
Packaged: 2018-08-12 03:44:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7919254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saunteredvaguelydownward/pseuds/caradoxing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niah steps foot in Denerim for the first time since she was taken to the Circle. One-shot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coming Home

A shiver ran cold down her spine as they approached the city, even with the warmth of the sun on her skin. The flow of merchants and travelers and others who passed them by had slowly increased as the walls of Denerim had come into view, but they were all the same in the way they would not hold her gaze. Whether it was because they knew she was a Warden and wished to avoid the trouble that she and Alistair would bring or whether it was, as it had always been in her life, that she was simply not interesting enough to keep their attention, Niah could not be sure. 

The ghost of some faint past crossed the back of her mind as the stepped through the gates, but faded before she could grasp it. This had been her home once, in the life she was told had existed before she had come to the Circle. If she searched the alienage, there was a chance… no. A pang shot through her heart with the realization that even if her parents still lived, if there was still anyone who would name themselves family, she would not know their faces. Would not know their names. She had always known that she could not go back to whatever had come before. But it was only now that she was so close, just within reach of something that she could not name, let alone _have_ , that she had come to realize the tragedy of it. The shiver ran once more across her skin, prickling at her arms. 

She was unaware she had even stopped until the pressure of a gentle hand on her shoulder brought her out of her haze. Still, she could not help but stand wide-eyed in front of the sights that stood before her.

“Is something wrong?” Leliana’s voice came from next to her, muffled, as though she were in a dream.

Before her the crowds rushed about, each figure bounding off to accomplish a different goal. Merchants were selling coloured cloths and silks of every colour to impatient customers, both noble and commoner, alongside stalls of armour which glinted in the sunlight. Smells both familiar and unrecognizable were carried by the light breeze from their food vendors. Some went in and came out from the shops that lined the streets. Laughter rose above the general bustle from small gatherings of friends who had met there after too long apart and those who were enjoying each others company as they did regularly. This, of course, was only rivaled by the steady voice of a chanter, whose words rose only just above the noise only to be heard by the few who bothered to listen. 

But as she looked closer, there were not only people but animals scattered about as well. A dog weaved it’s way around displeased adults, content to be playing with several giggling children. And then there were the birds, which sat perched on and also hopped across the tops of stalls before taking to the sky. She had even seen a few cats, all hungry looking and skinny, slinking back into the shadows where humans of the same sort dwelled.

Her stomach turned at this sight. She could barely see their faces in the shade, their ragged clothes, but their eyes were enough, staring out with hope for kindness while still somehow entirely devoid of hope at the same time. There would be far more of this sight were she to step foot in the alienage, she knew. It was incomprehensible to her, how those who flitted from stall to stall, wondering what frivolity to spend their sovereigns on could do so mere steps away from those with nothing. 

The scene all merged into one in her view again but she could not tell whether the whole or the details were more overwhelming.

Suddenly she was aware of the weight of worrying eyes on her. It frightened her how her companions had melted away into the background, as just more faces in the crowds. How easily one could forget for a moment that they, as well as all the others, were not just the background to her own thoughts and feelings.

She gave a quick nod no and attempted a small smile reassure her friend.

“I just…” Niah whispered, not aware she had done so, and blinked away tears that she hadn’t even realized were there. 

“I had forgotten there were so many people in the world.”


End file.
